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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28034865">Karate dads (Do you know where your children are?)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kdyelo/pseuds/kdyelo'>kdyelo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Reconciliation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:48:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,065</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28034865</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kdyelo/pseuds/kdyelo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Johnny and Daniel clash over Robby. They only know how to communicate through violence - can they forge a new way forward together?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Karate dads (Do you know where your children are?)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Johnny braces himself in the hallway outside Miguel's ICU room for a good minute, under the scrutiny of the single nurse at the nurse's station, before he pushes the door open and walks inside.</p><p>"Sensei Lawrence," Miguel croaks from his sitting position in an armchair next to his bed, "what's up?" Miguel's eyes look glassy. He's heavily-medicated with a cocktail of pain killers, stuff for nerve pain, all kinds of shit Johnny doesn't understand, and he knows from experience that Miguel may or may not remember this visit later. He's also hollow-eyed because the medication messes with his appetite and he's lost weight he can ill-afford to lose. Johnny knows if he orders a smoothie from the cafeteria the kid will barely put a dent in it, and it makes him feel helpless, which in turn makes him helplessly angry. He also knows he has to tamp his feelings down for Miguel's sake. His anger is the last thing the kid needs right now.</p><p>"Hey kid," Johnny greets him with all the joviality he can muster, "they got you sitting up today! Looking good!"</p><p>"Doctor says I have to do this every day," Miguel tells him, and his speech is surprisingly strong and clear, compared to yesterday. "I'm supposed to sit up as much as possible, build my strength up. But, sensei, it <em>hurts</em>."</p><p>Tough love is Johnny's religion, but his faith is tested when he sees Miguel's eyes fill with tears. Miguel has more tubes and wires in him than seems reasonable for someone who is expected to sit upright under his own power. Between the epidural drip in his back, the IV fluids, and the oxygen cannula, Johnny doesn't understand how they even got Miguel out of the bed and into the chair to start with. The kid looks like a pincushion.</p><p>He wishes he could talk to Carmen, but she still isn't speaking to him. He sees her every day he visits because she is there all day, every day, either in his room or in the waiting room, but she won't even look at him. Johnny is only allowed to visit because Miguel begged and pleaded, and Carmen is in no frame of mind to deny the kid anything he wants.</p><p>Miguel is telling him about the doctor's visit that morning during rounds; Johnny sets aside his thoughts so he can focus on what the boy is saying. It's something about a burst fracture, spinal cord swelling, spinal fusion surgery?</p><p>"Sensei, he said if we don't decide on the surgery quickly, I might never be able to walk-"</p><p>"Quiet!" Johnny bursts. "'Never', 'Can't', those are just words, they're meaningless!" When he pauses for breath, he registers Miguel's wide-eyed, shocked expression and forces himself to amp down his volume. The last thing he wants is for some nurse, or worse, Carmen, to overreact to his overreaction and boot him out, or even revoke his visiting privileges. He's on thin ice with Carmen as it is. "Sorry. What I mean is, you're young and strong, you'll heal. You'll be fine. I'm with you every step of the way, no matter what."</p><p>He's not sure who he's trying to convince more, Miguel or himself.</p><p>"Ok, sensei." This is all too much for the kid to process; he looks away from Johnny and focuses his attention on the wall-mounted television. They talk about the stupid reality show that's on the screen for a few minutes until Miguel uses the call button for help so he can go to the bathroom.</p><p>"I can help," Johnny says, a little doubtfully because he's also looking at the spaghetti-like mass of tubes and wires, but he can at least be of use to the kid while he's here, right?</p><p>Unexpectedly, Miguel's eyes fill with tears again and he hurls the tv remote he's holding at his bed. It slides across the bed and smacks the floor on the other side. "Can I just have some space," he demands, and his voice cracks.</p><p>A nurse chooses that moment to push open the door; she's accompanied by an aide. "We have this," she says, efficiently dismissing Johnny.</p><p>"Sure, I'll come to see you tomorrow, ok Miggy?" Johnny promises.</p><p>Miguel won't even look at him, and it belatedly occurs to Johnny that the kid is embarrassed, probably because he's feeling weak in front of his sensei who pushes his students to be strong at all costs. Christ, he's an asshole, Johnny scolds himself. He tries to do the right thing and he still fucks it all up, like he always does.</p><p>He walks out of the room - it's clear the nurse and aide are waiting for him to leave before they get Miguel stood up and moving towards the bathroom - feeling jagged and edgy for reasons he doesn't fully understand. Johnny has never been good at introspection; he feels deeply, his emotions smacking him in the face like the waves of an angry ocean, but he has trouble naming or processing any of it, and so he's left feeling unstable, reaching for the ocean floor with his toes without making contact. It's in this uncertain state that he encounters Daniel LaRusso coming out of the elevator, companionably chatting with Carmen who's wearing a wobbly little smile and holding LaRusso's arm.</p><p>All three freeze, uncomfortably face to face for the first time in days.</p><p>"Lawrence," LaRusso greets him coolly, staring him down with those cold, dark eyes of his.</p><p>He won't back down; he glares right back at LaRusso, and for a long moment they're having one of those ridiculous staring contests. Whoever looks away first loses. Johnny's eyes start to burn.</p><p>"He's busy," he finally tells them both. Carmen is looking down at her feet, refusing to meet his eyes. "They're helping him to the bathroom. He wants space." He barks that last word at LaRusso to drive home the point.</p><p>Carmen looks up, not at Johnny, but at LaRusso. "I'll see you later?" she asks him.</p><p>"Sure," LaRusso replies with that salesman charm, releasing her arm and patting her shoulder. "See you soon."</p><p>She leaves them both, walking stiffly around Johnny without any acknowledgment, headed towards Miguel's room. So LaRusso took his son and is taking his friend too? Johnny starts to pivot, on the verge of asking her to wait, to please talk to him, let him explain - and he stops. He can't blame her for blaming him; he decides it's better to let her go focus on her son and his recovery. Instead, he turns back towards the elevator - and fucking Russo is still standing there, glaring at him.</p><p>"What," Johnny barks.</p><p>"What are you doing here," LaRusso demands.</p><p>"I'm visiting my student. What are you doing here," Johnny demands right back at him.</p><p>LaRusso finally weakens and breaks their staring contest. "I wanted to see how Miguel is doing," he says evenly.</p><p>"You're the last person he wants to see," Johnny challenges, thinking about Miguel's vulnerability and all of the difficult things the kid is dealing with right now. Miguel doesn't know LaRusso from a hole in the ground, why should the kid have to make this guy feel better about what his student did to him?</p><p>What Johnny's son did to him.</p><p>"Have you visited Robby yet?" LaRusso retorts. He must be fucking psychic, Johnny thinks, to launch that barb at him right as he is thinking about it himself. LaRusso watches him for a reaction - the fucker is trying to get a rise out of him.</p><p>Johnny decides he's going to stop while he's ahead for once in his life. He abruptly pushes past LaRusso, brushing his shoulder hard like they're in a high school hallway, not a hospital, and hits the elevator's 'down' button. The elevator doesn't come quickly enough because he feels LaRusso come up behind him with that second sense he's always seemed to have about where the little shit is.</p><p>"Do you even know where he is?" LaRusso hisses behind him.</p><p>Johnny decides, again, to avoid a confrontation. He pivots for the stairwell and breathes a sigh of relief when he doesn't hear footsteps behind him. "Fuck," he shout-whispers to himself as he rounds the two flights of stairs between him and the ground floor.</p><p>The truth is, he has no idea where Robby is. He's been afraid to look.</p><p>At the bottom of the stairs, he pushes through the door to the lobby and continues outside towards the parking lot and the safety of his car, but here, unexpectedly, he hears footsteps approaching him quickly from behind. He'd recognize those steps anywhere.</p><p>"Do you know where he is, Johnny?" LaRusso demands again.</p><p>Johnny spins to face him. He feels his face stiffen, masklike, in mortification. Who is LaRusso to demand answers of him? "Do you?" he shouts.</p><p>"Yeah, father of the year, as a matter of fact, I do," LaRusso spits sarcastically. Johnny realizes the smaller man is staring at him the same way he did back when some of the kids vandalized his dojo and he showed up at Johnny's dojo to accuse him of being behind it. It's a little scary to see LaRusso this angry, on the ragged edge of control. He never did know when to quit when they were younger, always running his mouth and tugging on the tiger's tail, but his eyes were always amused when he did it, dancing like it was a game or a dare. That's not how he looks today.</p><p>Johnny's body tenses. "Shut the fuck up," he growls, his voice low and rough. "Shut. The. Fuck. Up."</p><p>"What are you going to fucking do about it," LaRusso challenges. "Nothing, like usual, right? It's got nothing to do with you, right?"</p><p>LaRusso never did know how to shut the fuck up, Johnny thinks, and if the fucker wants to try his luck, Johnny's happy to give him what he's asking for. "You tell me," he spits. "You took him in and trained him behind my back like a coward-"</p><p>"He's your fucking kid," LaRusso goads. "You're here with Miguel, and your own fucking kid is in juvie. Did you even look for him? Or are you too busy taking care of someone else's son to think about your own-"</p><p>Johnny's self-control snaps and a curtain of rage drops over his vision. His fists were already involuntarily clenched, and he swings, relying more on muscle memory and instinct than on any conscious strategy or tactical intent. His swing is wild, uncontrolled, and he's probably telegraphed it because LaRusso blocks it easily with his forearm.</p><p>"-so he's getting his ass kicked by the other guys-"</p><p>The fucker is still running his mouth? Johnny's eyes lock onto Daniel's, and he sees the moment when Daniel loses focus, staring at his mouth. He takes the opportunity and connects his shin with LaRusso's side, knocking him hard enough to draw a grunt.</p><p>"-and he's alone, wondering where his dad is, or maybe not, maybe he's used to dad not being around-" LaRusso is back in his face, flushed angrily, and one of his strikes gets through Johnny's defense. He lands a solid punch on Johnny's jaw.</p><p>"Do you ever. Fucking. Shut. Up," Johnny gasps, grabbing LaRusso's bare arm as he follows his punch through and launching him further, off-balance.</p><p>"-because he was living by himself in that shithole of an apartment, no electricity or food, no money for rent, and he didn't call you for help, why is that, <em>dad-</em>"</p><p>"I didn't fucking know!" Johnny launches his body at him, grasping his shoulders and putting all of his weight into his hands, shoving the other man hard against the back of someone's minivan. He tears his shirt in the process; the sudden view of LaRusso's bared shoulder gives him pause. He takes a half-step back and inhales. Does LaRusso know his words hit harder than his physical onslaught ever could?</p><p>LaRusso's hair has shaken loose from its usual careful style, flopping over his forehead into his eyes, and Johnny wonders disconnectedly if he gels it or borrows his wife's hairspray or what because he smells like vanilla and sandalwood. "He's your son, how could you not know? He didn't even tell me who he was for weeks-"</p><p>"Because if you knew, you would have left him right where you found him," Johnny informs him.</p><p>"Oh, like you did? Bullshit." LaRusso shoves him back bodily with his arms far enough to get his leg up, planting his foot into the middle of his chest and kicking him back, off-balance. "He came back to train with me. He didn't go to you."</p><p>"Good job there," Johnny retorts as he regains his balance. "He went straight for the kill, no mercy."</p><p>"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," LaRusso tells him with an ugly sneer.</p><p>It infuriates Johnny that he has that same smart mouth and smartassed look in his forties that he had in his teens - the asshole has barely aged, unlike Johnny who feels weatherbeaten and very much not the golden youth he used to be. He'll always have the advantage of size, though, so he launches himself at the smaller man, striking with abandon until he finally gets a leg behind LaRusso's knees and takes him down, hard, on his back.</p><p>LaRusso lays panting, stunned, and staring up at him, eyes wide and black.</p><p>Johnny's rage fades, leaving behind icy fear. "Fuck," he starts, "are you all right?" He reaches down to help him up, and the fucker grabs his arm and yanks, levering Johnny over his knee. It happens quickly and Johnny lands badly, finding himself on the ground with the breath knocked out of him, then, somehow, LaRusso has him from behind. He pulls him nearly upright, one arm wrapped around his neck in a chokehold. His other hand has Johnny's hair held tight at the scalp, pressing the back of his head forward against the choke.</p><p>The bastard is stronger than he looks, Johnny thinks briefly right before he succumbs to panic, tearing at LaRusso's arm around his neck, his feet scrabbling ineffectually against the ground. His mind takes him on an unwilling trip back in time to 1984 and Sensei Kreese trying to kill him in a parking lot much like this one. Today, there's no one there to come to his rescue when his vision fades black.</p><p>LaRusso abruptly releases him and he drops limply to his hands and knees, wheezing air back into his lungs. Humiliatingly, he's crying, and he's certainly incapable of getting to his feet. He hears but doesn't see LaRusso step a few paces backward, also sounding out of breath.</p><p>"Okay, okay," he hears LaRusso murmuring hoarsely. "Shit."</p><p>Johnny finally gathers enough wits to look up at LaRusso and see what he's doing. Is he going to launch another attack while Johnny is down and incapable of defending himself? But LaRusso looks as horrified as Johnny feels, backing up another step and sinking to a seat on the curb. They're in an empty parking space between the minivan and someone's pickup truck, and so far no one has seen them savaging each other like feral cats. Thank god for small mercies, Johnny thinks. He knows he's going to hurt for a few days and he'd prefer not to be in a jail cell for the experience.</p><p>"Johnny, that was... I'm sorry... are you ok?"</p><p>Johnny wants to tell him to fuck off, but he can't, his voice is gone and he's still sucking air. And his cheeks are wet; if he could reply, his shame would stop him. Instead, he pushes himself back to a seating position, freeing his hands to wipe his face. Involuntarily, he wraps his hands around his own throat protectively, self-soothing, and again he looks away and down, unable to meet the other man's eyes. He can't stand that LaRusso is seeing him weak - can't stand that he's the one who put him there.</p><p>Robby's own words from weeks before replay in his mind. "He's a better man than you'll ever be," he'd said. And he'd been right - Johnny can admit this much to himself. He puts his head down between his dusty knees, wrapping his arms between himself and the world, and bawls like a baby.</p><p>He doesn't hear LaRusso get up or approach, but he feels him hunker down next to him and put an arm around his shaking shoulders. "I lost my shit," he says. "I shouldn't have said any of it. I should have left it alone." Now that LaRusso is amped down, he sounds calm, almost Californian, no longer the pissed-off New Jersey kid.</p><p>"You're right," Johnny rasps. "Everything you said is true. I fucked it all up like I always do." Every word hurts, and not just because of his throat.</p><p>"I fucked up too," LaRusso admits, and Johnny stills in surprise. "I punished him for being your kid when I found out who he was. I was wrong. And I failed him as a teacher."</p><p>"I started fucking up the day he was born, and never stopped," Johnny admits.</p><p>LaRusso huffs. "We should probably get out of here. Can you stand?"</p><p>Instead of answering, Johnny takes a deep, shuddering breath and struggles to his feet, shaking off LaRusso's arm.</p><p>"Can you drive?"</p><p>Johnny sways unsteadily. He's wrecked; he knows he can't drive, but he's not going to admit it. "I'm good. Get out of here."</p><p>"No, you're not. Come on." LaRusso sounds resigned. He's standing right next to him, Johnny realizes, and much to his surprise, he follows where LaRusso leads him - to his Audi sedan. "Let's go have a drink." He even helps him into the passenger seat. Weak-kneed as he is, he's grateful.</p><p>They drive in silence to some dive bar, and Johnny wonders how LaRusso of all people knows about this hole-in-the-wall that sure as shit doesn't serve the top-shelf stuff. This also gives him time to pull himself together emotionally, catch his breath, and dust himself off physically. LaRusso gives him a look when he brushes asphalt crumbs off his knees into the floorboard, but keeps his mouth shut for once, and Johnny almost admires the man's restraint.</p><p>"Ok, let's do this," Johnny sighs when LaRusso parks out front. It's early afternoon on a weekday, so there are only two die-hard drinkers bellied up to the bar. LaRusso chooses a booth in the back. Johnny orders his usual brand of beer; when LaRusso orders a martini, he rolls his eyes.</p><p>Johnny starts. "How is he," he asks.</p><p>LaRusso makes eye contact for the first time since he was on his ass in the parking lot, his mouth tight, brow furrowed. "He was out on the streets for almost a week before the police picked him up," he tells him. "He looks rough, Johnny. He was afraid he'd killed the kid."</p><p>"He didn't call me," Johnny says.</p><p>"He said he tried, and you didn't answer."</p><p>His fucking cellphone is buried somewhere on the beach. He hasn't replaced it. "I lost my cellphone," he mutters.</p><p>LaRusso rolls his eyes. "Weak," he judges. "His arraignment is the day after tomorrow. You should be there."</p><p>He looks up. "What about Tori?"</p><p>"Psycho number two?" he retorts. "Who gives a fuck, Johnny."</p><p>Johnny doesn't ask who psycho number one is - he can guess. "I do, she's one of mine."</p><p>"She fits right in at Cobra Kai, I'm sure," LaRusso dismisses. "You know she started this whole thing?"</p><p>"You sure about that?" Johnny challenges him. "I heard your daughter was right in the center of the whole thing, playing both sides against the middle-"</p><p>"Don't talk about my daughter," LaRusso interrupts him. That city-boy temper is back, and his pupils are dilated, a clear warning. Together with his scraped-up face - Johnny landed at least one good blow - and his torn shirt, he looks feral. "You don't talk about my family."</p><p>To his own surprise, Johnny backs down; he even raises both hands in surrender. "Enough," he agrees.</p><p>They decouple warily, like tomcats, and nurse their drinks.</p><p>"Kreese took Cobra Kai from me," Johnny confides. "I'm out."</p><p>"Good," LaRusso spits.</p><p>"You think Kreese is an improvement?" Johnny asks. There's indignant anger behind his challenge, but it's driven by deep hurt. He'd tried so hard to be a better mentor and teacher to these kids than he himself ever had. He's not perfect, he knows, but Daniel thinks Kreese is going to be better for these kids?</p><p>LaRusso is watching him carefully. "No," he relents. "That's not what I meant, Johnny."</p><p>"Then what-"</p><p>"I'd like to see Cobra Kai die, once and for all." Then, LaRusso seems to realize something. "You have no idea what happened after '84, do you? After Kreese left and Terry took over."</p><p>"I have no idea what you're talking about, LaRusso." He's baffled; he really doesn't.</p><p>"Yeah, ok," LaRusso sighs. "I might be out too. My wife gave me an ultimatum. I give up karate or she's leaving me. What Tori did to Samantha, plus what happened to Miguel - it pushed her over the edge."</p><p>"Jesus," Johnny responds. "You're going to give it all up?"</p><p>"I haven't decided." For the first time, Daniel looks vulnerable and raw. "I don't know. Things aren't... great... lately." He clamps his mouth shut and stares at his martini glass as though it holds the answer to his dilemma.</p><p>"That's... I don't know what to say," Johnny admits. He's never seen LaRusso look lost before, and for some reason, it shakes him. Daniel has always been irrepressible, stubborn - nothing could ever bring him down. But he can see this has brought him low.</p><p>"Well," the other man dismisses his own pain, and something about that makes Johnny sad too. "Johnny, how is Miguel?"</p><p>It's Johnny's turn to feel lost, thinking back to Miguel's hollow-eyed appearance earlier. "I don't understand all the medical stuff," he says quietly, looking down at his hands wrapped around the bottle. "Only what Miggie tells me, and he's out of it half the time, but there's some question if he'll be able to walk again. I wish... I wish Carmen would talk to me. She's right to be pissed off at me. I got him involved in this bullshit."</p><p>The two men look at each other in shared misery. Johnny grounds himself by studying LaRusso's now-familiar brown eyes and that one eyebrow he habitually raises when he's forced to interact with Johnny. Whatever else has happened between them, they do at least understand each other. The intimacy of conflict has forced them into a kind of closeness that usually develops only between lovers, and that only over time; strangely, Johnny finds this comforting.</p><p>"How do I make this right?" Johnny asks him, adrift.</p><p>LaRusso sighs, then, shockingly, he reaches his right hand out to Johnny's left, where it rests on his beer, covering his hand with his own. His touch is warm, comforting, and for once Johnny doesn't feel the urge to withdraw. "Maybe we need to make it right, together," Daniel proposes. "Because we both did this. We passed our fight on to our kids. And Johnny, I'm not even sure why we're fighting anymore."</p><p>Johnny thinks about what LaRusso said. His old high school nemesis has done some shit to him, to be sure. He got his rent doubled; he broke down his door coming after his daughter; he came into his dojo and insulted him in front of his students, more than once; he turned Robby against him - but he didn't really do that, did he. Johnny managed that all by himself. He also repaired his car and then gave him a new one, and he's offering this olive branch to him now. His emotions are confused and turbulent; he's not sure how to react and can't detangle his feelings enough to figure it out.</p><p>LaRusso must see the conflict in him; he withdraws his hand and looks away. It's this resigned withdrawal that pushes Johnny off the fence and into the territory of forgiveness - and redemption.</p><p>"You're right," Johnny admits. "We need to figure this out."</p><p>Daniel looks up at him and smiles, and his stupid toothy grin feels like sunrise breaking the horizon. Johnny can't help but smile back.</p><p>"What do you think about going to see Robby now, together?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>These two have to make it right with Robby. Poor kid.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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